The Group Chat: Oh, it's heated alright

We missed you! What did you get up to over the holidays? We spent ours refining our New Year’s resolutions, perfecting our fitness routines, cleaning our homes…just kidding. We did nothing but watch Heated Rivalry.

• The Canadian gay hockey show has gripped audiences on both sides of the border and has had a well-documented, broad cultural impact. In the weeks since the season finale, The GIST HQ has been high-key obsessed with the press tour featuring the leading men, Hudson Williams (who plays Shane Hollander) and Connor Storrie (Ilya Rozanov).

• It’s been a long time since a sports TV show, let alone a queer one, has received so much attention. So today, we’re going all in on our favorite moments from the most lovable, hilarious, unhinged media blitz in recent memory.

6. The spreads in Vanity Fair and Teen Vogue

For a show that was made with a famously low budget and two previously unknown leading actors, it’s a BFD to land major coverage in legacy outlets. It’s also validating to fans — works of romance fiction, especially those featuring queer characters, are not always taken seriously in mainstream media.

• It meant a lot to hear Williams and Storrie speak in detail about their experience with the show on these platforms. The compliment battle was great, too.

5. The ginger ale taste test

The beverage plays a subtle but important role in Shane and Ilya’s relationship (IKYK). While the show has been a massive point of pride for Canadians, they may have been slightly disappointed in Williams, who’s from Kamloops, British Columbia, but couldn’t identify a crispy Canada Dry in a blind taste test. Shane would never.

4. The wrap party interpretive dance

Heated Rivalry may be a drama, but Storrie and Williams are pure comedy. Example A: This video of them…um, dancing at the first season’s wrap party, where they go all out on displaying their athleticism. They noted in a separate interview that the dance was entirely improv, a testament to their tight connection and relentlessly unserious vibe.

3. Hudson Williams’ appearance on The Tonight Show

While Jimmy Fallon was wildly uncomfortable (in more ways than one), Williams was wildly charming, leaving fans screaming from start to finish. First stretching, then skincare — what part of Williams’ wellness routine will become our Roman Empire next?

2. The hilarious, NSFW Buzzfeed celeb interview

You’re going to want to wear headphones to watch this video in a public space. It’s no secret that Heated Rivalry is, well, hot — there are a lot more sex scenes than there are hockey ones. In this interview, Storrie and Williams read and react to fans’ “thirst tweets” about them, and the result is a lot of clappable material.

1. Discussing closeted athletes on The Andy Cohen Show

Yes, this press tour has been unbelievably fun, but it’s also doing wonders for representation in hockey and other men’s sports — for fans and for athletes. Williams told Cohen that closeted pro athletes have anonymously reached out to him and Rachel Reid, the author of the book the show is based on, to share the impact the show has had on them. If you ever needed proof that representation matters, this is it.